Addressing sexual harassment in Tunisia is a real challenge, as it is often considered to be a non-issue, especially as Tunisia is viewed to be such an advanced country, when it comes to women’s rights. For many women though, sexual harassment is a daily reality.
Afghan Massoud Hossaini was awarded a Pulitzer price for his picture of an Afghan girl, Tarana, in the immediate aftermath of a bomb attack on Ashura.
Bangladesh is often thought of a poverty-stricken country, suffering from frequent natural disasters, but Bangladeshi women have made much progress in recent years, with two strong female political leaders; ten years ago Bangladeshi women were allowed to join the army, which is unthinkable in many other Muslim countries.
Fatima Ali of Manchester, UK, has been sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for leaving her baby girl to die, as the baby was born out of wedlock.
The Kashmiri women’s separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Milat calls for men to have up to four wives, especially in Kashmir, where there are an estimated 30,000 widows and many orphans.
A piece in The Globe and Mail questions whether the Arab Spring was a step backwards for women in the region.
The Association For Women’s Rights In Development (AWID) interviewed two Kurdish women on the unique challenges Kurdish women face in securing equality rights as part of a marginalized group.
Last Tuesday, over 150 Afghan schoolgirls and their teachers were poisoned after drinking water at their high school in the country’s northern region. Extremists are blamed for the attack, and two school care takers were questioned by the police.
In Somalia, women are campaigning to make sure that they are represented, in the government and on the track as well. The Somali Athletics Federation has said it plans to send at least one female athlete to the upcoming Olympics.
Gul Bano, a former Pakistani child bride, and her husband are fighting child marriage, after she suffered from fistula after her young body could not handle the prolonged labour she went through.
Some Uzbek women are still being forcibly sterilised, but First Daughter Gulnara Karimova has started a campaign to called “1,000 weddings, 1,000 circumcisions”, to help poor couples and families to celebrate these milestones in life. The Uzbek government has christened 2012 as the “year of the family”. I wonder where forced sterilisations fit in….
After the Pakistani Supreme Court decided that the three girls who were allegedly kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam be allowed to choose their future, all three girls decided to stay with their current Muslim husbands.
Asma al Assad has been in the news frequently last week; not only did wives of UN diplomats ask her to “stand up for peace”, after which Asma and her husband were seen packing food aid, but there was also a poster in the news with a picture of Asma al Assad, which expresses feelings of disgust so many have towards her.
Following international criticism, Saudi Arabia might be getting closer to setting a minimum age for marriage.
A Muslim woman has been told to remove her scarf in a St. Louis County jail, where she was jailed for a short time because of an unpaid traffic ticket. US courts have ruled that Muslim women are allowed to wear the headscarf in jail, if it is not deemed a security risk.
Fawzia Koofi is the first person in Afghanistan to declare the intention to run for president in 2014, but her bid appears to be a long shot.
A study conducted by the Zayed University shows that the divorce rate in the United Arab Emirates has increased, fertility rates have dropped dramatically, and more Emirati women are employed compared to the seventies, even though this number is still very small compared to other countries.
Osama Bin Laden’s three widows and nine children have been deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, after they spent their 45-day prison sentence in a well guarded home.
AFP features the life story of Leila Jabarin, a Auschwitz-born Jewish woman, who married a Palestinian in Palestine and converted to Islam on the recommendation of her mother.
The prolonged war in the border regions of Pakistan has caused psychological problems to a majority of the population, especially women.
Emirati 17-year-old Zahra Lari is the first to compete in an international figure skating competition wearing the hijab. Her aim is to compete in the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Last Saturday around 30 young Afghans marched in Kabul to demand justice for women; the demonstration was prompted by the murder of five women since the end of March.